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New Smyrna Beach Basics

Setting: New Smyrna Beach sits between the protected dunes
of Canaveral National Seashore and the Ponce de Leon Inlet, against
both the Atlantic and the Intracoastal Waterway. It's about an
hour's drive to Orlando, 40 minutes to Cape Canaveral, and 20
minutes to the Daytona Speedway.

Attractions: The town offers an abundance of recreational
activities, including golf, surfing, and fishing. New Smyrna Beach
also boasts an interesting colonial history, a lively arts
community, and great antiques shops.

Housing Options: Historic 100-year-old houses on the
mainland, either renovated or waiting to be. On the beach side,
concrete-block single-family houses are a short walk to the water;
luxury condos and multistory residences face the ocean.

What It Costs: Two- and three-bedroom homes away from the
water go for $165,000 to $225,000. The same house facing the
Atlantic can sell for as much as $2 million. A teardown house can
cost $750,000 just because of its location. Two- and three-bedroom
condos run from $165,000 to $250,000 off the water, to $2 million
for a 4,000-square-foot oceanfront penthouse. The northern,
riverfront side of the beach has some spectacular multilevel homes
in the $1 million range. Mainland properties run about half that on
the Intracoastal Waterway.

Your Next-door Neighbors: More than 400 artists, including
photographer Jack Mitchell; orthodontists, dentists, and doctors;
professionals who commute to work in Orlando; along with NASA
engineers and project managers.

How You'd Spend Free Time: Golfing, surfing, sportfishing,
shelling, antiquing on Canal Street. Ecotours and birding are big:
At Bird Island, says guide Bruce Jaildagian, "the Audubon Society
once counted 2,500 birds, of 11 species, leaving their nighttime
roosts in the first 10 minutes after dawn." The Atlantic Center for
the Arts, an internationally renowned artists' residency program,
sits amid the palmettos and pines on the outskirts of town.